


Forest Creatures

by Gamma_Orionis



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Age Difference, Canon Compliant, Community: rarepair_shorts, F/M, Identity Issues, Wordcount: 500-1000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-22
Updated: 2013-04-22
Packaged: 2017-12-09 04:20:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/769911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gamma_Orionis/pseuds/Gamma_Orionis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fleur feels at home in the Forbidden Forest, whether that's entirely safe or not. Written for the Number Game Ficathon at rarepair_shorts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Forest Creatures

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the rarepair_shorts Number Game Ficathon, where I was assigned the pairing Fleur/Firenze.

Fleur was not afraid to go walking in the Forbidden Forest.

The students of Hogwarts seemed terrified by the woods – they shied away from even the mention of the forest's name, and Fleur couldn't have begun to count the number of times that she was told not to go in, and yet, she found nothing to fear.

At first, she only skirted the outside, presuming that there must be some sort of creature deeper in that was worthy of fear. But as time passed, she became more daring. She ventured further and further away from the castle, further into the depths of the woods, and still felt no fear. The creatures she encountered did not flee from her, nor did they show any aggression, but simply watched her from behind shrubbery and leaves. Perhaps they sensed that she, like them, was a forest creature at heart. Perhaps they sensed that the blood that ran in her veins was not all that of wizards.

It was, however, not until Fleur had taken many walks in the forest, and become quite accustomed to it, that she was approached by a centaur.

Fleur didn't think she had ever seen anything so beautiful.

She was standing still at the edge of a clearing, enjoying the quiet and taking time to gather her thoughts, when she heard the sound of hooves. Another person would have whipped their wand out immediately, but Fleur was more careful than that. She let her hand hover at her waist, ready to draw her wand at a moment's notice if she needed to, but she waited, casting her eyes around, until she saw the source of the sounds.

She had seen centaurs only in books before, and no drawing had ever been able to capture the majesty of the one that she was looking at now. It was tall and strong, palomino, with fair hair and handsome features not so very different from her own. Fleur looked at it and it looked back at her, and then it spoke.

"You are not from the school."

Fleur swallowed, then replied, "No. No, but I am staying at the school. I am one of the Triwizard Champions." A note of pride entered her voice. The centaur seemed not to notice it. He approached her slowly, hooves crackling in the leaves and twigs on the ground, until he was standing right above her and looking down at her, straight into her eyes.

"You shouldn't be out here," he told her. He didn't sound accusatory, simply stating a matter of fact. "It is not safe for humans to be here."

"I'm not afraid," Fleur said, drawing herself up tall.

He appraised her, and then his hand shot out and pressed against her forehead. Fleur winced, but held her head high as his fingers trailed slowly over her brow.

"No," he said at last. "I can tell that you are not. Because you are not  _just_  a human, isn't that right?"

She nodded, watching him apprehensively, and he lowered his hand.

"Take care not to let a few drops of magical blood make you believe that you are more powerful than you are," he told her. "Not being wholly human does not make you immune to the dangers of the forest."

"I know that," Fleur told him, and now she let herself sound a touch indignant. "I'm not an idiot!"

"Good." He stepped back from her, but his eyes were fixed on hers, even has he moved backwards across the clearing. "Then I would suggest that you return to the castle, or wherever you are staying. You should know that it is not safe here – and not only because of the beasts who reside in the forest."

)O(

_Fin_


End file.
